Winners announced at the end of this article.
The Holidays are all about traditions. Those rituals you find yourself doing year after year that come to mark the season. Fortunately, Nyack offers plenty to choose from when it comes to these traditions. For my family, these include shopping and eating at the Holiday Bazaar at the Russian Orthodox Church, attending Readings and Songs in a Holiday Spirit at the Nyack Center, reading A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote with friends and family, last minute shopping downtown on Christmas Eve while seeing Bert Hughes and the Brass Carolers perform and attending an annual house party or two to catch up with old friends.
Sadly, we, and all of Nyack, lost one of our favorite parts of the Holiday Season when Levi Burnett passed away in May. For almost thirty years, we have had the good fortune of being next door neighbors of Levi and his wife Jackie. Levi was a chef at Nyack Hospital for over 60 years and threw legendary backyard barbecues. His flair and sense of style was evident in the cars he drove and jewelry he wore, but for us, it was mostly in his celebration of Christmas.
Each year, starting in the early Fall, Levi would begin to assemble his Christmas light extravaganza. He would be high up on a ladder for weeks stringing lights and hanging decorations. As Thanksgiving approached, we would see the first placement of some of the lighted figures he would put in his front yard. Each year there would be new additions to the display until, eventually, the small space was jam packed with Nativity figures, snowmen, Disney characters, a unicorn, a peacock, a NY Giants football helmet and so much more.
Anticipation would build because we never knew exactly when he was going to be ready to plug it in and, quite literally, light up the neighborhood. One year, we got some advanced word and had friends come join us to stand across the street and watch the big moment, but most years we would come home one evening and there it was! Lights covered almost every inch of his house, mechanical figurines would wave or dance, music would chime and the whole street was bathed in the glow. It was such a concentration of lights and figures, we were convinced it could be seen from space, or at least by planes passing high above. There would be a steady procession of cars driving past in the weeks before Christmas and it was easy for us to give directions to our house, “Oh, you’ll know it when you see it.” In recent years, as his health declined, Levi needed to enlist help to get everything in place, but he never missed a year.
There were many loving remembrances at Levi’s funeral, most focused on his generosity, devotion to his family and community and his remarkable tenure at Nyack Hospital, but for our family, we will never forget the joy he provided us and so many others during the Christmas Season. That is why, when my wife Kris was asked to be a judge for The Nyack Home Decorating Contest, we knew right away what we needed to do. Thankfully, Mayor Rand wasted no time in agreeing that one of the honors will be called the Levi Burnett Best Home Decoration Award.
And the winners for business decoriations are:
Chosen by judges:
First: The Quilt Shop
Second: Prohibition River
Third: Saloninière
Honorable Mention:
Gentleman’s Barbershop
Scott & Joe’s
Grace’s Thrift Shop
Abigail Rose and Lily
Honor & Blume/Hope Wade
Chosen by people’s choice voters:
First: Crystals on the Rocks
Second: Grace’s Thrift
Third: Honor & Blume / Hope Wade
Honorable Mention:
DPNB Pasta and Provisions
Hippie Dippie Threads
Hudson Spectacles
Long Path Outfitters
Prohibition River
Quilt Tree
And the winners for the homes contest:
Chosen by judges:
First: 208 Highmount
Second: 204 High
Third: 405 Roseland and 10 South Highland
Honorable mention:
140 Castle Heights
1 Village Gate
Spring Street Neighborhood (Especially 12 and 14)
Chosen by people’s choice voters:
First: 204 High
Second: 405 Roseland
Third: 208 Highmount
Honorable mention:
126 Castle Heights Avenue
44 South B roadway
12/14 Spring Street
1 Village Gate
142 Castle Heights
505 N. Midland
Tom Burns is a resident of Summit Street, a longtime neighbor of Levi Burnett, and retired Nyack School Teacher’s Union President and English Department Chair.
Levi Burnett Best Home Decoration Award Judges
— Theresa Kenny, Orangetown Supervisor
— Beth Davidson, Rockland County Legislator
— Kris Burns, artist & activist
— Rev. Everett Newton, First Immanuel Missionary Baptist Church of Christ
— Gary Cirlin, North Pole Airport, New City
Store Front Decoration Award Judges
— Mayor Don Hammond
— Mayor Jen Laird White
— Bill Batson, Nyack Farmers Market Manager, artist/activist
— Matt Koke, Rockland Pride Center
— Maria Luisa Whittingham, Local Global Finds
